In their first ever Moot Court invitational, Loyola freshmen Elyse Burns (left) and Holly Fena took home first place after seven tough rounds at the National Moot Court Invitational hosted by the University of Chicago Law School. Burns and Fena, who were also part of the Loyola Mock Trial team that qualified two teams to the Opening Round Championship Series this year, were the clear victors after defeating a team from the University of North Texas in the final round by a score of 3-1-1.

This tournament was the inaugural National Invitational and was only open to the most elite Moot Court programs from across the country. Loyola has only competed in Moot Court for three years, but the program's fast success on the national stage has already made the team mentioned among the best programs in the nation.

This is the second straight year that Loyola Moot Court has won an invitational at the University of Chicago, and the program has qualified for the National Championship for two years in a row.

Congratulations to Elyse, Holly, and Coach Michael Walsh on the great tournament result and a bright Moot Court future!

]]>Tue, 12 Jan 2016 20:02:34 GMThttp://loyolamocktrial.com/blog/moot-court-primed-for-national-championshipIn just the second year of competition, Loyola Moot Court is sending two teams to compete at the American Collegiate Moot Court Association National Championship. Loyola has high hopes after earning two automatic bids to the Championship at the Upper Midwest Regional hosted by the University of Iowa College of Law last November.

The duo of junior Ambris Saravanan and sophomore Tom Bright took first place at the Regional and enter the Championship as the second overall seed. Loyola's second team, which qualified in fifth place at the Regional, consists of senior Lorellee Kampschneider and freshman Kristie Daniels.

The Championship will take place January 15-16 in Long Beach, California, at California State University, Long Beach. Good luck, Ramblers!]]>Wed, 01 Apr 2015 17:10:32 GMThttp://loyolamocktrial.com/blog/season-recap-seniors-goodbye1The 2014-2015 season has ended for Loyola University Mock Trial, and for the second year in a row the Ramblers missed out on the National Championship. That doesn't mean the season was a disappointment, however, as there were many successes to look back on. Overall this year, the program earned 1 invitational championship, 1 Spirit of AMTA award, 15 Top Ten Placings, and 5 Top Five Placings.

]]>Mon, 16 Mar 2015 17:37:24 GMThttp://loyolamocktrial.com/blog/lumts-road-to-cincinnati-ends-in-minnesotaDespite high hopes entering the Opening Round Championship Series, Loyola University Mock Trial's season has come to an early end for the second year in a row. With two teams at the Anoka, Minnesota, ORCS, Loyola hoped to rebound on last year's National Championship absence and re-start the program's previous four-straight Championship appearance streak. Unfortunately, that new streak will have to begin next year. 1141 came closest to grabbing a bid to Cincinnati, despite a first-round blow to California-Berkeley. 1141 drew the Bears in the first round and suffered a two-ballot loss (-10, -9), putting them in an early hole. The Ramblers recovered, winning all four ballots on Saturday against South Dakota (+4, +2) and Washburn (+6, +5) to set up a final round showdown against Colorado. 1141 needed two ballots to qualify, but failed to get one as they lost one ballot (-3) and tied the other. The 4-3-1 result put them in 8th place, but it wasn't enough. Six ballots were needed to advance, and the Ramblers just missed out. The silver lining for 1141, however, was winning the Spirit of AMTA Award. This award is the only peer-voted mock trial award and is given to the team who best exemplifies collegiality and fair play. This marks the seventh-straight season in which the Loyola program has won at least one Spirit of AMTA Award during the year.1142 also came close to earning a bid, and things were looking up after round one. The team drew Creighton, and the round ended with two ballots in Loyola's favor (+13, +2). Things took a turn for the worst on Saturday, however, as 1142 lost four close ballots to Penn (-4, -3) and Drake (-3, -3), effectively eliminating them from the tournament with one round left to play. They collected themselves nicely and went out with a bang: two ballot victories against Gonzaga (+14, +12).The losses in Minnesota mark the end to LUMT's Road to Cincinnati. Thank you to everyone who supported the program this year, we hope you will join us next year on the Road to Greenville! ]]>Sun, 22 Feb 2015 13:43:52 GMThttp://loyolamocktrial.com/blog/1142-earns-lumts-second-bid-to-orcsTeam 1142 left no doubt that Loyola University Mock Trial would continue its streak of Opening Round Championship Series competition. The team went 7-1 at the Joliet Regional, good for second place and a direct bid to ORCS. For the seventh-straight year (the entirety of the ORCS system), LUMT qualified the maximum amount of teams for ORCS competition.

1142 started the tournament against North Central College, earning two ballot wins off the bat (+4, +2). In the next two rounds the team faced both squads from Michigan State, which are coached by LUMT alum Scott Shimkus. 1142 got the best of the former Rambler's team, winning all four ballots in round two (+14, +1) and round three (+15, +4). The last round pitted Loyola against Wheaton College. The round ended in a split (+8, -3), but that was all LUMT would need. Their 7-1 record put them in second place and secured the bid to ORCS. 1142 will head to Anoka, Minnesota, for the next stop on the Road to Cincinnati! ]]>Thu, 05 Feb 2015 02:04:52 GMThttp://loyolamocktrial.com/blog/41-qualifies-to-anoka-orcs-42-takes-6th-at-lorasContinuing the Road to Cincinnati, 1141 and 1143 found themselves in the first stage of the post-season: Regionals. They travelled to St. Paul, where seven of the 21 teams would advance to the AMTA Opening Round Championship Series. 41 started the first round against Minnesota-Morris A and split the ballots (-21, +12). Determined not to let the first round hold them back, they entered the second round against St. Thomas. Once again, they received a split (+3, -1). With a 2-2 record going into the third round against Hamline, the Ramblers managed to gain another split (-7, +4). The 4th round paired them with Macalester in a win-or-go-home situation. The round ended with a +11 win and tie. 1141's final result was 4-3-1, which was good enough to place 6th. With only seven bids to the ORCS, 6th Place was fine enough.

1143 began the tournament against Cornell College, which gave them a split (+7, -9). Their second round was also against St. Thomas, which was also a split (+17, -1). Their third round matchup wouldn't go as planned, as 1143 dropped both ballots (-12, -14). In their 4th round matchup against the other St. Thomas team, 1143 managed to win one ballot by 4 and tied the other. While they didn't earn a bid to Anoka, they finished the season very strong.

Not to be outdone, 1142 travelled to Loras College at the annual National Collegiate Invitational. They began their first two rounds against Drake (-6, -9) and Loras College (-11, +4). The second day went better, with double-ballot wins against Illinois-Springfield (+4, +10) and Central College (+10, +14). Their 5-3 record earned them an honorable mention and 8th place overall!

Next up for 1142 is the Joliet Regional where they hope to earn Loyola Mock Trial's second direct bid to the ORCS!]]>Tue, 27 Jan 2015 04:09:49 GMThttp://loyolamocktrial.com/blog/dc-curse-strikes-again-41-43-fare-well-in-indyFor the sixth time in seven tournaments in Washington, D.C., Loyola failed to break .500. 1142 started the weekend facing Rutgers, resulting in a split. In round two the team dropped a ballot to Pittsburgh, but managed to tie the other. The same result occurred in round three against Yale. The final round saw the Ramblers in a tough matchup against Maryland, which ended in two lost ballots, putting a cap on a dreary D.C. weekend. The team will have time to recover, though, as they have one more invitational before regionals in February.

For 1141 and 1143, the weekend's trip to Indianapolis served as a final tune-up before St. Paul's Regional tournament this coming weekend. 1141 started strong, winning two ballots in round one. They stumbled slightly in round two, losing both ballots to rival Lewis. Rounds three and four, however, brought two double-ballot victories. 1143 started the weekend 3-1, splitting in round one and winning both in round two. After dropping two ballots to Miami-Ohio in round three, they picked up both ballots in round four to finish the tournament 5-3.

1141 and 1143 will now try to continue their success in Minnesota at the Regional Tournament hosted by Hamline. 1142 will compete at the National Collegiate Invitational hosted by Loras before traveling to regionals at the end of February.]]>Thu, 22 Jan 2015 18:00:21 GMThttp://loyolamocktrial.com/blog/ramblers-take-4th-6th-at-windy-city-inviteComing off the longer-than-normal winter break, Loyola Mock Trial started the Spring Semester in fine fashion, with two Top-Ten performances. 1142, facing the equivalent of a strong regional schedule, earned a 6-2 record. The six wins was tied for the second best record - behind 6-1-1 winner Eastern Kentucky - but Loyola was bumped to 4th Place on tiebreakers. The team won two ballots against Lewis in round 1, split with Iowa and Cornell College in rounds 2 and 3, and won the final two ballots of the tournament against Northwestern in Round 4.

1141 started strong as well, winning two ballots against Pittsburgh in round 1 and splitting with Cornell College in round 2. After taking both ballots against Illinois-Chicago in round 3, the team lost and tied versus Cincinnati in round 4. The result was a 5-2-1 record, good enough for 6th place.

1143 was also in attendance, and they held up well against some good competition. They dropped both round 1 ballots against Northwestern before winning and tying versus Illinois-Chicago in round 2. On day 2, the team split with Cincinnati and Iowa to finish 3-4-1.

Next up: 1141 and 1143 will travel to Indianapolis for the Hoosier Hoedown while 1142 will jet off to Washington, D.C., for the Georgetown Hilltop Invitational.]]>Sun, 18 Jan 2015 17:46:24 GMThttp://loyolamocktrial.com/blog/ramblers-compete-in-moot-court-championshipSenior Ryan Sugas with Regional 2nd Place trophy.

For the first time ever, Loyola Mock Trial sent a team to the American Collegiate Moot Court Association National Championship. The tournament, held in Miami on January 16-17, featured the nation's top 80 undergraduate moot court teams. This was just the second year Loyola has ever competed in the competition - last year the team did not make it out of regionals. This year's team, comprised of Senior Ryan Sugas and Sophomore Ambris Saravanan, qualified for the National Championship by finishing in second place at the Regional Qualifying Tournament held at the University of Iowa in November. Sugas argued the First Amendment portion of the problem while Saravanan argued the Fourteenth Amendment portion. After competing in three rounds on the first day of the competition, the duo earned a record of 2-4, which was unfortunately not enough to move on to the knockout round.

]]>Mon, 24 Nov 2014 17:50:41 GMThttp://loyolamocktrial.com/blog/loyola-wins-lewis-fantastic-flyer-inviteLoyola Mock Trial had an excellent performance at Lewis University's Fantastic Flyer Invite. Team 1141 had an undefeated record of 8-0, taking first place and winning the tournament. Team 1142 came in right behind at 1141, with a winning record of 5-2-1, good for 6th place. Team 1143, comprised of entirely freshmen mockers, finished with a record 4-4 at their first invitational together as a full team.

Loyola Mock Trial will be on hiatus for a few weeks as finals and winter break roll in. Join us in January as we once again go downtown to Northwestern University's Windy City Invite in the Richard J. Daley Center! ]]>